William Shatner — actor, comedian, pitchman, recording artist and author — turns 80 today. From Captain Kirk to an interpretive performance of "Common People," Shatner has had an accomplished and eccentric life. TIME takes a look at some of his best moments

Waking Up the Discovery Astronauts

On March 7, as NASA’s Discovery space shuttle left the International Space Station for the last time, its astronauts received a surprise wake-up call from William Shatner, who greeted them with a prerecorded message styled after the original Star Trek theme (see the above video). “Space, the final frontier,” Shatner’s message began. “These have been the voyages of the space shuttle Discovery. Her 30-year mission: to seek out new science, to build new outposts, to bring nations together on the final frontier. To boldly go and do what no spacecraft has done before.”